Every morning for months, Nainie of the tree clan, has spied on a fair-skinned woman who lives within the stone village bordering the willow woods. He knows he can’t be with her for he must marry a woman of his father’s choosing, and this mysterious beauty is not one of his kind…or is she? The ripples in the river move toward her rather than away. Her eyes are like the lake when the noonday sun hits its surface, blue and placid. She is different, but he feels she is the same as him—one who stands apart from those of her clan.

Gathering his courage, he crosses the river to meet her. They share their first kiss, a heated, awkward moment of bonding that ends too soon. When he enters her village, hoping to find her father and ask for her as his bride, he discovers she, like so many others in the stone city, is a slave. His naiveté about the cruelty of Tiir’s clan only helps to ensnare him in her harsh world.

In a city of strict traditions awaiting its high ruler and atonement for past sins, can these two new lovers make a way for themselves and find a path to freedom?